Why is copper abbreviated with CU and not CO?

[Buck Parrish]

I was just wondering about this.
I see cu/al alot. I've always assumed the cu means copper.
Why is copper abbreviated with a CU?

 

[Carultch]

I was just wondering about this.
I see cu/al alot. I've always assumed the cu means copper.
Why is copper abbreviated with a CU?

Co is Cobalt
Cu is Copper, which stood for the Latin word of Cuprum

There are 11 elements on the periodic table that have symbols which match their Latin names, rather than their modern English names. Copper is one of them.

 

[GoldDigger]

I was just wondering about this.
I see cu/al alot. I've always assumed the cu means copper.
Why is copper abbreviated with a CU?

The alchemists and early chemists used Latin a lot and copper in Latin is Cuprum, so Cu.

Along the same lines, Tungsten in German is Wolfram, so the symbol is W.

Lead in Latin is Plumbum (Pb)
Silver is Argentum (Ag)
Gold is Aureum (Au)
Potassium is Kalium (K)
Sodium is Natrium (N)

 

[Carultch]

The alchemists and early chemists used Latin a lot and copper in Latin is Cuprum, so Cu.

Along the same lines, Tungsten in German is Wolfram, so the symbol is W.

Lead in Latin is Plumbum (Pb)
Silver is Argentum (Ag)
Gold is Aureum (Au)
Potassium is Kalium (K)
Sodium is Natrium (N)

Sodium is Na. Nitrogen is N.


I always thought that Wolfram didn't sound Latin, and now it all makes sense.

 

[Buck Parrish]

Thanks, I had no idea.

 

[JFletcher]

Latin is good to know if you are a "Jeopardy!" buff.

Mercury is Hg, which iirc is Hydrogyrum, or quicksilver. There's a few other elements with Latin names.

 

[ptonsparky]

Latin is good to know if you are a "Jeopardy!" buff.

Mercury is Hg, which iirc is Hydrogyrum, or quicksilver. There's a few other elements with Latin names.

I helped my older brother with his required HS Latin course, but two years later it was no longer required. Considered a dead language at the time.

 

[JFletcher]

I helped my older brother with his required HS Latin course, but two years later it was no longer required. Considered a dead language at the time.

I took latin one and two, three years. I wanted a governor's diploma, which required three years of one language or two of two. I switched to Spanish... I didn't get the governors diploma, which exactly zero people have cared about in the last 23 years. ofc, knowing what I know now, I'd be blingual in English and Spanish....

 

[zog]

Co is Cobalt
Cu is Copper, which stood for the Latin word of Cuprum

There are 11 elements on the periodic table that have symbols which match their Latin names, rather than their modern English names. Copper is one of them.

1st come 1st serve

 

[Jraef]

Just be happy we don't have to relate everything to Chinese characters, technically they discovered and named a lot of what we call elements before anyone in the "west" did.

 

[wireman]

Look at the Periodic Table. Cu is copper.
Take it up with the Greeks or Romans.

 

[Carultch]

Just be happy we don't have to relate everything to Chinese characters, technically they discovered and named a lot of what we call elements before anyone in the "west" did.

If that were the case, I'm sure we'd have element names in the Pinyin letter standard of the Chinese language. The way we represent their language in our letters.